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Thumb injury sidelines Dodgers' Hanley Ramirez 8 weeks

Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez is scheduled to undergo surgery Friday on his injured right thumb and is expected to be sidelined for eight weeks.

Infielder to have surgery Friday to repair torn ligament

The Associated Press · March 21, 2013

Shortstop Hanley Ramirez is expected to miss the first six weeks of the season after tearing the ligament in his right thumb in the championship game at the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday. (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez is scheduled to undergo surgery Friday on his right thumb and is expected to be sidelined for eight weeks, leaving Los Angeles to look for alternatives at shortstop until he's ready to play.

An MRI indicated that Ramirez has a torn ligament in his thumb, the team said Thursday. Dr. Steve Shin, a sports-medicine hand specialist, is scheduled to perform the surgery in Los Angeles.

Ramirez was injured Tuesday night while playing for the Dominican Republic in its victory over Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic championship game in San Francisco.

Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said Ramirez could stat rehab in about three weeks.

Colletti ruled out an immediate trade to address the temporary loss of Ramirez.

"Not as of now," Colletti said. "If it was all year long, we'd think about it differently. We've got some depth."

Dee Gordon and Luis Cruz appear to be the leading candidates to be the opening day shortstop.

It looked as though Gordon was headed to Triple-A Albuquerque. Gordon, who appeared in 87 games last season, was the Dodgers' starting shortstop last season until he underwent surgery on July 6 for a similar injury to his right thumb.

Cruz, a former shortstop, has been playing third base during the spring. He was projected to be at third for the opener against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium.

If Cruz moves to shortstop and Gordon goes to Albuquerque, the possibilities at third appear to be Juan Uribe, Nick Punto and Jerry Hairston.

"Right now, I have no idea what happens at shortstop," said manager Don Mattingly, who got the news before the Dodgers boarded a bus for Tucson and a game against the Chicago Cubs. "At this point, everything is hypothetical. I don't know if I'm comfortable with anything going on at shortstop right now."

At the start of spring training, Mattingly said Ramirez at shortstop was a key. He was at third base when the Dodgers obtained him on July 25 from the Miami Marlins. About three weeks after he joined the Dodgers, he moved to shortstop, his original position.

Despite the injury to Ramirez, Mattingly said the WBC "was great for the game."

"You've got to go back to what the WBC is all about. Just because one of our guys gets hurt, doesn't change that," he said. "The tournament, to me, was great, totally cool."